Mastermind
by CrackPairingAddict
Summary: Skulker develops a truth-telling serum and uses Vlad as a test subject. Now unable to lie, Vlad's life tumbles downhill. As it turns out, a lot of his life has been based on lies. *Canon*
1. Delphic

**Summary: Calmly, Vlad turned to her with a small, sad smile that refused to reach his eyes. "I can't tell a lie, Maddie," he murmured, his smile unwavering. .... "Yes. Yes, I am Plasmius."**

**V/M. Mild Language. Note: I do not own Danny Phantom; that title belongs to the marvelous Butch Hartman. Send your thanks to him.**

"Skulker, this is proposterous," Vlad stated, as calmly as he could. "There's absolutely no point."

The billionaire flexed his fingers, to keep the blood flowing to them. The ecto-plasmic binds around him were starting to make some of his limbs fall asleep.

"But, Vlad, I need a test subject. And who better than you?" Skulker leaned in next to his ear as he added, "The _other_ halfa."

Vlad turned his head away, stretching his neck so as to get farther away from the monster beside him. "Yes, I understand that you need a guinea pig, Skulker, but the Fentons don't have to be here. Just give me the serum, and ask your own questions."

The metal man chuckled. "Oh, but Vlad! I already know nearly everything there is to know about you - you'd just be repeating yourself. If it's the Fentons you're revealing yourself to....then I'll know that it works."

"Skulker, please," he begged, looking at him again. "You can't do this, I thought we were friends."

A harsh laugh escaped Skulker, and some unknown force curled his lips into an iron sneer. "Well, Vlad, you are very wrong. We are mere aquaintances, is all, nothing more."

Vlad closed his eyes, barely holding on to his nerve. He felt like crying, but tears would only make his situation worse.

"Do it on somebody else!" He was on the verge of yelling. "Why does it have to be me?!"

But Vlad already knew.

"Because," Skulker replied. "It _has_ to be another half-ghost. It doesn't matter if it works on a human.....and it doesn't matter if it works on a ghost. DNA is _very_ important. You should know that by now."

He wrapped his large fingers around a syringe that was lying on a counter nearby, striding over to a small beaker that was filled with a lavender substance. Placing the needle in the flat liquid, he carefully measured the dosage with the piston. His moves seemed tortuously slow, and Vlad had a feeling that Skulker was doing that on purpose.

"Be a good little boy, now," Skulker taunted. "I might give you a lollipop once we're finished."

Vlad would have been angry; hell, he _should_ have been, but he couldn't find the energy. He felt exhausted, like he had been reaping the same patch of soil for years, and there was still nothing to sow from it. And, in a sense, that was true.

His head fell back, his neck arching against the back of the chair as his face was lifted towards the ceiling. His heart was pounding in his ears, and he thought that it might just explode in his chest. Simultaneously, he knew that that was just wishful thinking.

Skulker pressed the tip of the cold needle against the bare flesh of Vlad's neck, making the man shiver. "You've been living a dream," he whispered. "A dream where there was a chance to win for you. Where you could be happy. And you've been living that dream for twenty years. But, Vlad? It's about time to wake up. Your chance is over. It has been for a long time."

Vlad knew his words were true, he knew that he had been too hopeful, but he didn't want to face reality. Because the reality was, he would always be alone.

"Think about it," Skulker told him, piercing the needle through Vlad's skin. "Technically, I'm doing you a favor."

As Skulker pushed the piston down, dispensing the serum, Vlad felt a mild burning sensation, and everything became a mess. His vision blurred, his body tingled, and there was a sharp ringing in his ears that should have deafened him. Around his wrists, ankles, and waist, there was a sudden feeling of looseness, and a large shape moved away from him. It was a vibrant color that he couldn't quite identify. A low tone overlapped the ringing, producing a few words that Vlad couldn't understand. It felt like the sound was from some foreign language.

Nothing around him made sense. It was all spinning around him, making him feel dizzy and nauseous. He moved, or so he thought, in some direction or other, hitting something hard. His whole world seemed like a child had dumped the pieces from five different puzzles into the same pile. It was confusing, and he couldn't make this out from that.

Finally, he lapsed into unconciousness, unable to process anything more.


	2. Froot Loops and Apple Jacks

_It was the moment he had been dreading. He saw all of the Fentons in front of him, three on his couch while the forth, Daniel, was standing, glaring up at him. He felt weak and defenseless under the younger halfa's gaze, and he braced himself for what he knew was coming._

_"Who are you?" Danny growled._

_The information drifted effortlessly off of his lips as though the boy had just turned on a spout of water: "Vlad Masters."_

_His eyes were wide with fright, watching the teenager carefully. He had barely avoided -_

_"And who __else__ are you?" -the child's voice was a whisper now- "Who is your other half?"_

_"V-Vlad..." he stammered, trying to hold himself back. He couldn't hold off the inevitable forever, knowing that he would soon crack and - "Vlad Plasmius."_

_His eyes closed, refusing to look at the horrified faces of Jack and Maddie....He didn't want them to reject him - didn't want __her__ to reject him._

Vlad's eyes fluttered open, and he was relieved to find himself in his den....alone. It had all been a dream.

A terrible, _terrible_ dream.

The billionaire noticed that he was in one of his armchairs, but hadn't the faintest recollection of how he got there. In fact, the last thing he remembered was retiring to the lab early in the evening. For everything past that, he only drew a blank.

_Hmm...._ he thought. _Strange._

Vlad stood up, stretching. Or, at least, he tried to. He failed to do this because there were metal gaurds around his ankles and wrists, which stuck him to the chair. It brought to mind a very vague memory of something, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Oh, asparagus," he cursed under his breath. It was common for him to swear on edible things. "As if I need this right now...."

A dark chuckle greeted his comment. "Vlad! Nice to see that you're awake."

Ice blue eyes looked up to where the voice came from, and his eyes narrowed. He recognized it from somewhere....why was it so damn familiar?

Warily, Vlad murmured: "Yes....and, you are?"

A large man, made of metal, stepped from the shadows of the bookshelves. Skulker merely offered him a sneer. "Seriously, who else would I be? What has that serum done to you?"

He could have retorted in many different ways, but the second question caught him off-gaurd. He was about to ask what Skulker meant, but then he began to remember what had happened last night.

Or at least he thought that it happened last night. How long had it been?

"I don't know," he found himself saying. "You always reminded me of General Zaroff, from 'The Most Dangerous Game,' maybe something like that crossed my mind."

Vlad didn't know why he was saying this, but before he could mull it over, he continued: "And I'm not all too sure what it did - I seem to be forgetting certain things for a brief period of time, but I don't know whether that's the serum or not."

Skulker seemed pleased, his lifeless green eyes watching Vlad's face contort first in confusion, and then fright.

"I bet you're wondering what I want from you _now_, right?"

At first, Vlad wanted to lie, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to.

"Yes," he confessed, rather unwillignly.

"Good," Skulker chuckled. "You see, Vlad, I want to torture you. I want _you_ to be the one to invite the Fentons over."

Vlad stared at him incredulously.

"You want me to _what_?!" he exclaimed. "You're _insane_! What makes you think that I would even _do_ such a thing?!"

The hunter's eyes flashed with malice. "Because I have something that you want."

"_Right_. And what's _that_? _Money_?"

"Ha ha. But, no. Something much more important." Skulker floated over to Vlad's leather computer chair, spinning it around, revealing -

Vlad gasped.

In the chair was Danny, knocked unconcious. It was a sight that the older man could not handle.

With a trembling voice, Vlad asked: "And what makes you think that_ I _care about _him_?"

"_Do_ you?" Skulker asked in reply.

_Butter biscuits._ "Yes."

Avoiding Skulker's triumphant gaze, Vlad looked over at the teenager's wounds.

A deep cut under his eye. Long scratches up his arms and neck. Bruises everywhere.

The first halfa swallowed his worry as best he could, but still paled at the severity of Daniel's condition.

"How did you get him like this....?" Vlad whispered, unable to tear his gaze away now. "Didn't he defend himself?"

"He _couldn't_," Skulker replied. "I ambushed him in human form, with a witness present, so-"

"He couldn't transform...." Vlad finished lifelessly.

"Precisely." Skulker smirked. "But the witness proved to be an obstacle, so he had to go."

The billionaire turned to him, unblinking. Unsure if he wanted to know, he asked quietly, "And who was the witness....?"

"His father. Jack Fenton." Skulker laughed. "At least _something_ is going your way, Plasmius."

_Jack was dead._ Three of the words that Vlad had been wanting to hear for his whole life. Why didn't he feel anything? Shouldn't he be rejoicing?

"Jack...?" Vlad croaked. "Jack is dead...?"

"Yes, he is. You can thank me at any time."

Vlad's eyes narrowed, his lip curling back in a snarl. "Never," he hissed. "Never again."

Arching an eyebrow, Skulker inquired, "But isn't this what you've been _wanting_? For _years_ now? Doesn't it _please_ you to hear that he's gone?"

"I thought it was. I was under the impression that revenge would make me happy...." Vlad closed his eyes. "But it didn't. I never wanted him dead, I just wanted to live his life."

"Ah, how sweet. Too bad that it's over now."

Vlad was silent for the longest time. He looked directly into Skulker's eyes during the silence. Blue met green. Water met earth. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and menacing: "No, it's not."

And then, as though the hunter hadn't heard Vlad's comment, he changed the subject. "Do we have a deal?"

Vlad hung his head, glancing back at Danny. _He looks so peaceful,_ he noted. _And he deserves everthing he can get, after all the good he's done._

"Yes," he whispered. "I suppose we do."


	3. COLORado Blind

The funeral had been a distraction. Fortunately for Skulker, it had lured the entire Fenton family.

Alice, Maddie's sister, had been the hunter's victim of choice. Maddie would be grieve-ridden, and Jazz would be comforting her, so Danny and Jack would be free for the taking.

Of course, the women knew none of this.

"-and this is just your way of punishing yourself for teasing her when you two were younger," Jazz explained, adding a smile to the end of her mother's session. "You'll feel _much_ better once you open up to someone else."

Maddie nodded slowly to her daughter, mirroring her smile. "I think I'm fine now, sweety. Thanks."

"You should _really_ tell these things to dad," Jazz insisted. "Telling the truth is a _vital_ part of a relationship!"

Before Maddie could respond, the phone rang.

Relieved for the excuse to escape, she rushed to answer it. However, her enthusiasm disappeared when she saw the caller I.D.

"Vlad," she mumbled. "Why would _he_ be calling?"

Once she raised the phone, she spoke warily into the reciever. "Hello?"

"....Maddie." His voice was softer than it normally was. Almost shy. "It's Vlad."

"_No_!" she said sarcastically. "I thought that it was my _other_ friend from Wisconsin!"

The phone was silent for a while. "I heard abouth what happened."

"What, did you send flowers and chocolates?" She wasn't up to the task of acting nice.

"Yes," he blurted. "But, uh, that's not why I'm calling."

"Well, then why-?" she began, but before she could finish, he interrupted: "I was thinking that you needed a little bit of time away from home."

Her eyes narrowed. "And where do you suggest I go? _Colorado_?"

"No, I was actually thinking my mansion," -he paused- "And I'm sorry about Colorado. I got a few steps ahead of myself."

Surprised, Maddie blinked. He had been rather blunt with his invitation: _No, I was actually thinking my mansion_. It hadn't been arrogantly exclaimed, or grandly presented in any way, which was how Vlad usually introduced things. It was also strange that he was apologizing...

The sudden change had sobered her up.

"Vlad...? Are you okay...?" she asked him gently. "You sound different....."

"No," he replied. "I'm not." There was a brief pause, but then he quickly added, "I'm tired."

_Exhaustion wouldn't change him like this,_ she thought. _I know that I shouldn't, but I'll accept his offer; Just to see him face to face._

"Oh, okay," she murmured, feigning a smile. Remembering that he couldn't see her, the smile faded. "I'll be there in an hour or so. Get some sleep."

Without leaving him enough time to reply, she hung up.

As she stood from her seat of the arm of the couch, she made the decision to go alone. If she brought Jazz, then she would keep insisting that she brought Jack, so that they could 'sit down and talk about what happened.' If she brought Jack, then he would get excited that they were going to see Vlad and he wouldn't stop talking. She needed a little bit of quiet time, so this option was also out. And Danny....he would complain too much, whining about going to the mansion and reminding her of Colorado in an attempt to dissuade her from going.

A voice broke the silence: "Who was that, mom?"

Maddie nearly jumped out of her skin. She hadn't noticed her daughter enter the room.

"Job offer," she lied. "I have an interview somewhere uptown...I'll be back sometime tomorrow."

Disappointed, Jazz looked at her mother. As glad as she was that her mom was getting a real job, she wanted her to stay home and talk with Jack.

"Oh," she murmured, forcing a grin. "That's great."

With just as little enthusiasm, Maddie inquired: "Isn't it?"

There was a few moments of awkward silence between them, which Maddie broke. "Might as well start heading up, huh?"

Her daughter was silent, responding with a nod.

Without any more words exchanged between them, the two went their seperate ways. As Maddie went to the RV, Jazz sneaked a look at the previous caller, frowning at the name that shined back at her.

For some reason, the words "Vlad" and "Job Offer" didn't mix well in Jazz's mind.

***

Trying to rid her mind of the pain from her sister's death, the widowed woman drove off to her "_interview_".

Little did she know, _she_ would be the one asking the questions.


	4. Unanswered

Vlad stared at the dead phone with a blank expression, listening to it whine faintly. With shaking hands, he set it down on the reciever.

"My, my..." Skulker mumbled. "You sure are one tricky bastard, weaving through loopholes like that."

"It's what I do," Vlad replied in a monotone. "It's what politicians are good at."

The hunter laughed at this. "However, some of the conversation confused me-"

Vlad growled: "Surprise, surprise...."

This earned him a glare from Skulker, who continued: "What confused me was, how did you manage to lie to her?"

"I didn't lie," Vlad answered. "Not once."

"Yes you did! When she asked if you were okay, you said that you weren't, and that it was because you were tired. But that's not why, so you lied to her."

"I didn't say that," the billionaire pointed out. "I said that I wasn't okay, then I told her that I was tired. I never said that they were related; she assumed that on her own."

"How about when she asked why you were calling? How did you lie _then_?"

"I didn't. I foresaw the question, and said something before she could ask it. The question was never asked, so I never had to answer it."

"Interesting....so the serum works. You really _can't_ tell a lie."

"You _know_ that I can't," Vlad growled.

"And you have to answer _every_ question asked?"

Vlad was _really_ getting annoyed. "_Yes_."

"That's a deadly combination," Skulker noted with a sneer. "And once I inject it into the ghost boy, he'll spill his secret to everyone!"

_Only if they ask him,_ Vlad thought to himself, _which I highly doubt they will._

"Anything _else_?" the halfa grumbled.

"No. Not yet," -a grin creeped across the hunter's face- "But there will be."

Vlad wanted to be angry at the ghost before him, he really did. Any other emotion but the frostbitten fear that was clutching at his entire being.

But the fear was too strong; its claws too tight.

Trying to ignore the metal hunter, Vlad laid down on the couch, cuddling under the warm covers. Information overloaded his mind; things that his subconscious had known for _years_. _She'll never care. Daniel won't, either. Or Jasmine._ For each new thought, another shiver of pain travelled up his spine. _Skulker betrayed me. I'm a monster. I'm not good enough to amount to anything, nor will I ever be....._

Vlad tried to block it out, but his attempts were in vain. He wanted to be blissfully unaware of these things once more, because the guilt was too much to bare, the shame too much to carry, and the hurt to much to endure.

Realizing, too late, that he had started to cry, Vlad buried his face in the arm of the couch, hiding his face from Skulker.

Skulker laughed - a laugh that Vlad had grown to resent - and said: How cute! Did lil' ol me hurt Vladdie's feelings?"

"_Yes_...!" Vlad's voice was hoarse. _Skulker doesn't even care anymore. Maybe he never did...._

Biting his lip, Vlad willed himself not to sob. His tears provoked Skulker enough, they didn't need help. His body trembled with silent sobs unspoken, and his mind kept realizing things that Vlad didn't want to know. He was thrown over the edge when he thought: _No one ever loved me....and no one ever will._

Vlad couldn't take it anymore, releasing his pent-up sobs for God knows how long, until he finally fell into a deep, comforting sleep. The neutral blackness was a comfort compared to the place he had once called home....

***

_Vlad didn't remember coming to, but he was aware of himself walking down a white hallway with a tiled floor. Instead of walls, there were mirrors - mirrors that had been cracked and shattered. He saw himself everywhere, but he couldn't relate any of them to the Vlad Masters that he thought he had been. There were all like pale shadows of the man he was before. Every one of them was slender - fatally so. Bones nearly poked though their flesh, which he noticed was scarred with marks: The straight cuts of a razorblade. He felt hollow, emotionless, as he walked on, his blank eyes shifting from one Vlad to the next as though they were nothing special. And, frankly, they weren't. Not to him, not anymore._

_A dull throb of nausea rolled over his stomach, which growled in protest. As this agonized him, however, he found himself somewhere else. The whole scenario simply flashed away, becoming something different._

_Everything was still white, but he was in a stall this time. No more mirrors were visible. His fingers, long and bony, were clutching at the sides of a toilet. A bloody razor was on the floor nearby, and the new marks that it had made burned him. Velvety crimson liquid gushed from his wounds, dripping hotly over his cold, naked body. Vlad wanted the serum to leave him, wanted things to be the way they had been before Skulker turned on him....and he was trying __everything.__ If he threw up, the serum might leave with his bile. If he bled out, the serum might go with that. _

_Behind those thoughts, there was a small voice that said: __And if these fail....if I die in the process....what have I to lose? What has been taken from me?_

_The small room replied with silence, which was the only answer Vlad needed._


	5. The Empty Shade In You

He woke up with a start, jolting into a sitting position. The sweat that trickled down his skin made him shine in the light that was peering dimly through the windows. A terrified scream was trapped in his throat as he looked around and realized he had been dreaming. Again.

Before he had time to calm himself, he heard a voice from behind. "Wakey, wakey, Vlad."

The voice tore the scream from him.

He turned to face the one who had spoken, his body tremulous. Standing there, with a startled expression...was Maddie.

Vlad tried to pull his thoughts together, but it was all just a jumbled mess of past events.

Walking into the lab...waking up in the private study...Daniel, beaten and bruised...Maddie's angelic voice on the phone; the same voice that he was hearing now.

Slowly, he began to remember the missing details. He wished that he hadn't.

Skulker's betrayal...their deal for Daniel's protection...and Jack. Jack was dead.

"Vlad?" Maddie whispered, setting her hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Vlad tried to lie in response, but instead found himself stuttering, "N-no..."

Even before she opened her mouth, Vlad knew what she was about to ask and intervened. "Nightmare."

Maddie's probing stare was relentless, and she didn't say anything for a few seconds. When she finally spoke, she said, "Well, that makes sense."

Vlad sighed in relief, releasing a breath that he didn't know he was holding. His eyes met hers, and he attempted to smile, but couldn't. Apparently, he couldn't even lie to his lips.

"You seem..._different_." Maddie tucked her bangs behind her ear, uncomfortably shifting under Vlad's gaze. "Did something happen?"

"Yes." _Ah, noodles..._ "Something is always happening."

Maddie giggled, and Vlad's heart fluttered to hear the sound. "That's not what I meant, wise guy."

*******

Danny's eyes fluttered open. He felt eerily clam, as though he had just been sedated.

Scanning the room, he noticed a few things. The first thing was Skulker, tied to the chair beside him. The second was the throbbing pain in head, pulsing with his heartbeat. The last, and the most obvious, was that he was in Vlad's private study.

What a wonderful day this was turning out to be.

The ghost adjacent to him stirred from his stupor, looking about with a dazed expression.

"_Skulker_...?" Danny asked. "What are we doing here...?"

Skulker turned to him with a frown. "You _don't_ remember?"

"_No_..." He paused. "_Should_ I?"

"Well, I'm just surprised that you'd forget, is all. It was pretty traumatic."

"What happened?"

"_Well_..." Skulker murmured, writhing nervously. "It might sound a _wee_ bit harsh, coming from me."

"I'm listening," Danny growled, growing impatient.

"Danny..." Skulker whispered. "Vlad killed your father."

That's all that Danny needed to hear. He wasn't even paying attention as Skulker droned on about his mother and some serum. All he could think about now were those four words. _Vlad killed your father. _

They ripped a hole in his heart, which he replaced with the one, desperate emotion that he thought could help him now.

_Anger._

*******

Maddie fought a fit of giggles as she sipped the tea from the porcelain cup that Vlad had provided, watching him as he nervously fiddled with his fingers. The last time she had seen him so skittish was when they had been going to Madison Junior High together. It made her laugh to remember how shaky he had been.

"Oh, _come on_, Vlad," she teased, "you don't need a cootie vaccine to hang around me anymore; we're _adults_ now."

Vlad laughed nervously. "Heheh, right...sorry. I don't feel like talking much right now..."

She frowned, slightly worried about his response.

"Vlad, are you feeling okay...?"

Ugn. He wished that she would stop asking that question. "No. My nerves are killing me..."

As Maddie covered her mouth to laugh, Vlad turned his attention to the figure standing in his doorway. His eyes clouded over in confusion.

"_Daniel_...?" Vlad inquired.

"Yeah," Danny whispered. "_Me_."

He moved slowly toward Vlad, his trembling hands clenched at his sides.

"You little _bastard_," he murmured. "You. Little. _BASTARD_!"

The boy broke into a run, but Vlad had anticipated the charge. He ducked out of Danny's way, making the youth smack into the table and fall to the floor.

"_Danny_!" Maddie gasped. "What... What are you _doing_ here...?"

Danny pointed an accusing finger in Vlad's direction, declaring, "That _bastard_ killed him!"

"..._What_? Danny, what are you _talking_ about?" She paused. "And would you _please_ stop swearing?"

"_Mom_!" Danny cried, struggling in her grasp. "Vlad _killed_ Dad! How can you expect me _not_ to swear?!"

"...Danny, that's _ridiculous_. Stop playing games, sweetie... How did you _get_ here, anyway?"

"I'm _not_ playing games!" Danny proclaimed. With his finger still jabbed in Vlad's general direction, he blurted, "And that _bastard_ kidnapped me!"

Vlad frowned, offended that Daniel jumped to the conclusion of him being the guilty person as quickly as he did. Had he really been that terrible, that Daniel would assume him of doing such a thing?

_Yes,_ he realized, _that's probably true._

Vlad watched them both with careful eyes, feeling his heart slip into his stomach. Certainly, Daniel would figure out about the serum and use it against him. He imagined what it would be like...

*******

_Maddie sat on the couch, alone, watching Vlad with her innocent lavender eyes. Daniel paced in front of him, stiff and intolerant. _

_"Who are you?" Danny asked, his voice as cold as dry ice. "Tell her."  
_

_Vlad swallowed, replying, "Vlad Masters."_

_"No. The second you. You're other half."_

_"V-Vlad..." he stammered, biting his lip. "Vlad P-Plasmius..."_

_He closed his eyes, unable to bear the sight of Maddie's horrified face. He could just imagine her eyes swelling up with tears..._

_Danny hissed: "Did you kill my father, Plasmius?"_

_And, to his surprise, Vlad heard himself say, "Yes, Daniel. I did."_

*******

**EDIT:**** I made an **_**IMPORTANT**_** change. Those of you who notice the change (if anybody does) might not think it's important, but it is. **


End file.
